This July 12, 2018 photo shows members of the Jasper, Alabama Police Department with Mayor David O'Mary, second from right and Police Chief J.C. Poe, in front of a house in Frisco, Ala., that was the scene of a drug bust. Jasper Mayor David O'Mary tells news outlets that four Jasper officers have been suspended and will lose a week's pay following the publication of a photograph in the Jasper Daily Mountain Eagle on July 12. O'Mary is pictured in that photo alongside several officers, four of whom are making an upside-down "OK" sign with their fingers. He says some have claimed the gesture is meant to express "white power." (Ed Howell/Daily Mountain Eagle via AP)

Four officers from the Jasper Police Department have been suspended after making and upside-down "OK" sign with their hands in a post-arrest photo taken by a Jasper Daily Mountain Eagle photographer, city officials told AL.com.

Some people have claimed the gesture is actually a hate symbol that means "white power." The photo in question was posted Thursday in a story about a recent drug arrest in Jasper.

Jasper Mayor David O'Mary told AL.com in an email the officers have been suspended from the narcotics team.

"The Civil Service Board has a say in what happens relative to compensation loss. We feel it is within the powers of the Mayor to impose a five day loss of pay," O'Mary said in an email. "In addition we will require some diversity training."

A post from the ADL blog claims the rhetoric behind the "OK" was created in a social media hoax that began on 4chan.

"The 'OK' hand gesture hoax originated in February 2017 when an anonymous 4channer announced 'Operation O-KKK,' telling other members that 'we must flood Twitter and other social media websites...claiming that the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy,'" according to the blog.

The blog post accused 4chan users of trying to spread other white supremacy hoaxes and encouraged people to "skeptical" when someone says a symbol is a new hate symbol.